February 21, 2009

Happy Belated Kurt Cobain (Feb 20,1967 - Apr 5, 1994)

Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was an musician who was a lead singer, guitarist, songwriter and frontman for the band Nirvana. With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with them a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 90s.

As Nirvana's frontman, Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana serving as the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing the band's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993). During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with drug addiction and the media pressures surrounding him and his wife Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what is officially ruled a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. In years following, the circumstances of his death have become a topic of fascination and debate.